Football: MacIntyre happy with CU Buffs' first effort

In his first official practice as the new head football coach at Colorado, Mike MacIntyre squeezed out every ounce of sunlight -- and then some -- on Thursday.

MacIntyre might need all the time he can get to help the Buffaloes rebound from a 1-11 season, but as always with the first day, excitement was in the air.

"I thought they ran around hard and competed and tried to do what we were trying to tell them to do," said MacIntyre, who kept his team on the field long enough for the lights to become a necessity. "Great effort today.

"For the first day, very good. We didn't have a lot in, of course, but they were trying to play fast and working hard and communicating."

MacIntyre, who spent the previous three seasons at San Jose State, reiterated that every position will be looked at closely by the coaches as the staff tries to find the best players to help CU win. That includes quarterback, where six players opened up spring ball in competition for the starting job.

Nothing, of course, has been decided yet, and it may be quite a while before a starter is named.

"Last year, David Fales, we named him five days before the first game and everybody is going, 'You're crazy,' and he set every record there ever was," MacIntyre said of his quarterback at San Jose State. "All the guys get a ton of reps. The more repetitions they get, the more pressure they're under, the different people they're with, it doesn't bother them. I don't think it rattles them. I think it prepares them.

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"I'd like to have one (named) quicker than five days before, but we had a good battle going on (at San Jose State), which is always a good thing."

MacIntyre was encouraged by the Day 1 performance of his signal callers, however.

"I thought they picked up the offense well today what we were doing," he said. "They were getting the signals, getting them lined up, getting the snap count. We didn't have a lot of miscues on the snap count or the snap of the ball."

Throughout his time at Mountain Vista High School, Clay Norgard excelled at linebacker. A year ago, he signed with CU to play fullback.

Shortly after MacIntyre was hired in December, Norgard was told he'd be going back to middle linebacker.

"I was pretty jazzed about that," the 6-foot-1, 240-pound redshirt freshman said. "I always felt that defense is where I was supposed to be. I've just always been a defender.

"Defense is pretty basic. You just search and destroy, and that's what I just love."

Norgard said he had to change his whole mindset as a fullback, and he's enjoying the return to his comfort zone.

"Instincts are going to come back slowly, but they're coming back," he said. "It's all moving really fast right now, and I definitely have a lot to work on, too. I'm going to be watching lots of film to get ready."

Teammate Derrick Webb, who is likely to start at linebacker, said Norgard "physically looks like a linebacker to me. He's a big, strong guy and he definitely has the physical tools to be a good linebacker."

New era

Thursday's practice was sort of monumental. It was the first time since the CU's final practice before the 1988 Freedom Bowl that Brian Cabral was not on the field coaching the Buffaloes' linebackers.

"His absence was definitely felt," Webb said. "It's been weird."

Cabral gained a reputation as one of the country's premier linebacker coaches. He was not retained by MacIntyre, however, and is now coaching linebackers at Indiana State.

Webb said that while Cabral will be missed, he's eager to learn from Kent Baer, CU's new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach.

"I feel like if I take everything I learned over the first four years with coach Cabral, combined with coach Baer in my last year, I can get pretty much some of the best coaching in the world," Webb said.

Notable

Dynamic receiver Paul Richardson participated in his first practice in nearly a year since tearing the ACL in his left knee. "I didn't see him favor it or pull himself out (of drills), so that was very encouraging to me," MacIntyre said. ... CSU-Pueblo coaches John Wristen, Paul Creighton, Bernard Jackson and Donnell Leomiti -- all former Buffs -- attended practice on Thursday. ... Redshirt freshman running back Davien Payne has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. ... Receiver Austin Vincent is back with the team as a walk-on. Vincent was arrested after an incident during the fall 2011 semester and was suspended by the school for the spring 2012 semester. He played in one game as a true freshman in 2011.

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